Alive and Well In California

While the media focuses on Texas Governor Rick Perry’s chances to win the GOP nomination for president of the USA, I have more pressing things to deal with today. Such as sorting out my real online self from a new bogus online self.

First, my morning began in what is now becoming a routine with my cat who has begun clawing at the side of my bed in the early wee hours to gain my attention (and to wake me up) as she knows I’ll be muttering “No! No! Don’t do that!” before either getting out of bed to remove her little paws from the upholstery, or sliding deeper under the duvet to go back to sleep. I chose to stay in bed and firmly murmur the “No” routine today, but my quietude didn’t last long.

Within minutes, I heard a knock on my bedroom door and was told by my housemate that a mutual acquaintance had called to find out if I was okay as she had received an urgent email from me (my normal email name but with a different .com) which said I was trapped in Ghana and needed money to be sent ASAP so that I could get out of the country. What? The mutual friend was worried. Me, in Ghana? Hahahahaha! The chances of that being true are as ridiculous as finding me on a plane. I don’t like those things anymore. But learning that someone is using my email name? Not so hahahaha.

I wonder how many bogus emails have gone out over the year under my name from both my real account and now this new one. It’s odd how these nameless scam artists manage to latch onto one’s email  information and begin sending strange alerts and notices under one’s moniker. It’s happened to several of my friends who are on Facebook, and to others like me with regular emails. At one point a year ago I was receiving emails from myself selling Viagra and other questionable products. I contacted the provider with a complaint and after that it happened no more.

Should I now delve into this latest online prankity-prank-punk’d gem of being trapped in Ghana or let it go, as anyone who really knows me would realize the email was not legit. But I wonder why this particular person was targeted as I don’t believe I have ever sent a personal email to her in the brief time I’ve known her other than private messages on Facebook. She isn’t in my online address book.

Hmmm. The plot sickens. Is this yet another Facebook-oriented breach? And how could that be if I hide my Friends list from everyone except Friends?

Enter paranoid-sounding music. Ah, but do I know who my FB Friends really are? Just because they were nice in high school or college doesn’t mean they are all clean as snow on a hard to reach mountain top. (Yes, I wrote that. And I’m keeping it.)

But then again, with all of the recent changes Facebook has made to their format and the constant little “privacy” surprises we must rush to plug lest our faces, names and other personal information end up in a third party’s database, Facebook may be just another entryway for those of ill will to gain access, and friend or foe, we may never know how these breaches grow.

Nevertheless, if you have received an email from the Other Me requesting aid to become un-trapped in Ghana, don’t be alarmed. I’ll only request funds to help me get out of California.

And that’s the truth.

Update: The people behind the aforementioned scam were arrested on Wednesday, 8/17, at a Western Union outlet while awaiting what they thought would be another rip-off payment from a concerned loved one of the lifted names they acquire through nefarious means on the Interwebs to bilk hapless decent peoples of their money. Bravo, my friend and friends-of-friends for a fantastic outcome!